


Resurface

by Velgamidragon



Series: Meta Encounters [2]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Betrayal, Canon Compliant, Daddy Issues, Dead Family, Dead Friends, Dead People, Fear Play, Implied Sexual Content, Insanity, Jealousy, Loss of Identity, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mind Control, Mind Games, Nudity, Psychological Torture, Rage, Revenge, Trust Issues, carwash siblings, implied abandonment, lots of pistols, nightmare scenarios
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-25 10:33:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3807118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velgamidragon/pseuds/Velgamidragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The next time Wash encounters the Meta, it's at the broken-down base where he first met Church and when Caboose throws his spike grenade straight at the wall they're hiding behind - the worst throw ever of all time - they leap over it just in time to avoid the blast. His jump and subsequent land takes only seconds, but the Meta is already instantly gone from the hill and Wash has no idea that anything else transpired during the quick leap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Break

**Author's Note:**

> I had a bout of inspiration, so I decided to write the next part of the Meta Encounters series and then promptly realized that the piece that I wrote, while still actually important, had nothing to do with Wash's second encounter, so this is just the beginning intro portion, and I don't know when I'll get around to writing the actual encounter.

Maine’s head is very crowded these days.

While having four AIs in his head was a lot and took up quite a bit of room, Eta, Iota, and Theta were generally quiet and didn’t disturb much of anything in his mind, even in the parts that they, along with Sigma, had pushed him out of. It took some time to get used to, especially since Maine hasn’t dealt with any AI in the years when he literally shut himself off from everything around him. Wash was the one who unwittingly brought him back to himself when South shot him in the back. He still doesn’t know how to feel about learning that. On the one hand, he hadn’t killed her like he first thought when he discovered Theta in his head and knew he must have killed North to get him, but on the other hand, she attacked and nearly killed David and that was unforgivable. He only found out about that much later from the unfiltered information flowing from the AIs though.

It hasn’t been quiet since before Valhalla.

It had been about a year since Maine had come back to mental awareness and fought and won against Sigma to activate the healing unit to save David’s life and then abandon him before Sigma could regain control of his body and steal it. He hadn’t seen him since and even Sigma, who constantly scans the COM frequencies and other communications, hadn’t found any sign of him. Maine counted himself lucky for that because he hadn’t forgotten Sigma’s promise to kill Wash should they meet again.

It was on one of those days that Sigma picked up a call about a crashed Pelican at Valhalla Outpost 17-B.

The call didn’t last very long, but it was enough for Sigma, and the AI instantly directed his body to that location without pause.

It was both a treasure trove and a massacre.

The COM towers of both Red and Blue teams were down and this seemed to make Sigma excited. Maine had no idea why. Sigma went to the downed Pelican first and they unexpectedly found Wyoming’s helmet with his time distortion unit (for something so potentially powerful, it sure was the smallest) and Gamma… Sigma instantly removed Gamma and slotted him in, and Maine just lost that much more of his mind to make room for yet another AI.

//KNOCK KNOCK, MAINE.//

They went into the Blue base – Sigma didn’t care if anyone saw him – and it was empty. All the Blues were dead with their radios pulled out of their helmets, but there was another body there – a body in black Freelancer armor. Immediately, _every_ single AI in his head pushed to the front, and he would have pressed his hands against his head to lessen the pain if he could move his arms because there were now five voices screaming //Allison! _Allison!_ **_ALLISON!_** // and his head felt like it was going to explode and rip right in half! He was so blinded by pain that he couldn’t feel his body running toward her and half-cradling her in his arms. Couldn’t feel his hand brushing the side of her visor in a gentle lover’s caress like it was her face and she was sleeping and he was a different man that wasn’t Maine. Couldn’t feel how he carefully tipped her body forward to get at her armor’s power core access panel to pop it open and remove her invisibility unit. Couldn’t feel how the AIs attached both the time distortion unit _and_ the invisibility unit to his suit’s armor and promptly cloaked. Couldn’t feel how he set her body softly upon the floor and stared longingly down at her for a good minute before he stood up and headed over to Red base because _Allison is here_ and Omega can’t be far behind.

They found her! And Omega was here too! They were possessing the Reds and were trying to escape. Sigma targeted those first, but they kept jumping to a new host. Sigma nor any of the other AIs could do that, so Sigma made the task simpler. He just started killing everyone until they were both trapped in one body and that person was killed. There was no one left to jump into except for Maine, and that was exactly what Sigma wanted. They didn’t. So Sigma removed them manually and inserted them into the back of Maine’s head where so many AI data chips already resided.

It was both a treasure trove and a massacre.

If Maine thought his head was full before, it was _nothing_ compared to now. Gamma was loud and wouldn’t shut up. Omega was loud and violent and destructive. Allison was Beta was Texas and he almost understood that but didn’t. She was confusion and loud, and violent to the other AIs because they wouldn’t shut up – even the formerly quiet ones now – and they wouldn’t leave her alone. Their voices were overlapping and echoing and building and there was finally no room for him anymore and he barely knew who he was. He couldn’t find himself in his own head anymore because he was Sigma and Eta and Iota and Theta and Gamma and Omega and Beta and together, they were the Meta and he was barely aware of himself as he engraved those words onto the wall of Red Base with the blade of his brute shot.

He was Maine.

He was not the Meta.

He was human.

He was not an AI.

He had to protect David.

He didn’t know if he could.

He couldn’t even save himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags will be updated as need be with the next chapter (I haven't yet written it out yet, so I don't exactly know who all will be there). I was originally not going to make this separate from the main part of the story until I realized the time between the two events is too different to be together on one page, but I needed to show this to begin to show the difference between Maine's state of mind in _Revival_ compared to this one.
> 
> Also, I really kind of wanted to write the moment where all the AIs freak out over Tex because she's Allison and they're all fragments of Church, so they probably all love and obsess over her too (Tex could have a serious reverse harem thing going on if she _really_ wanted to. She probably wouldn't want to though; almost all of them are complete assholes).


	2. Stalemate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ho.ly. shit, this turned out WAY longer than I expected it to! I swear, at some point, this thing just took over the writing all on its own. Also as a bit of a warning, I use multiple POV switches in this chapter. I tried to make them as clear as possible, but I'm not sure if I succeeded yet, or if it's just plain confusing. To help out, I gave all of the AIs a different manner of speaking to help differentiate them. 
> 
>  _//Sigma talks like this//_  
>  **//Omega talks like this//**  
>  //GAMMA TALKS LIKE THIS//  
> //Both Delta and Tex talk like this//  
>  ** _//And Theta talks like this//_**  
>  Eta and Iota don't talk.
> 
> This is important because as of the previous chapter, Maine can no longer distinguish them by their individual AI names anymore to kinda show his mental degradation with so many AIs in his head.

The Meta has found Agent Washington again.

Agent Washington had disappeared off the Meta’s radar for over a year, but it had not been very long at all since the massacre and ransacking of Outpost 17-B. The Meta was surprised by Command’s timely response considering the lack of AI fragments on the recovery agents; they must have a different type of beacon for the non-Freelancer Recovery agents. The Meta was scanning communication frequencies, as it tended to do when hunting, and just caught the tail end of a transmission from Agent Washington to Command, asking for coordinates to Rat’s Nest Outpost 28. The Meta hummed with excitement. They’d found him, Agent Washington who had awoken Agent Maine from his dormant state and escaped them once before! The Meta didn’t know why Agent Washington was going to Rat’s Nest, but it didn’t care. They knew where he was going, and they could finally deal with him.

Maine jerks awake and then blinks in confusion. Wash? He thought he heard Wash? But he doesn’t hear him now. Doesn’t see him at all. Are the AIs bored again? They like to trick him. It wouldn’t be the first time. META/ **Meta** enjoys the scenarios most. He curls back inward and lets himself drift again. His only defense.

The Meta does not arrive at Rat’s Nest before Agent Washington does. On the one hand, that means the Blue soldiers that are talking to Agent Washington are distracted from looking too closely at their numbers and don’t notice it's posed as a blue-armored soldier, but on the other hand, the Meta is too far away to hear what Agent Washington and the Blue simulation trooper lieutenant are discussing. He watches as another Blue – even from this distance, the Meta can see he’s still wearing the Mk V armor for some reason – leaves the base and stands next to the lieutenant and Agent Washington. They talk some more presumably and begin walking in their direction. The Meta holds completely still, recognizing that Agent Washington is equally likely to continue walking out of the outpost without noticing them as he is to look up and spot them.

While acknowledging both possibilities, the Meta finds itself having to restrain from firing and attacking Agent Washington right now. Agent Maine is currently unaware of his former lover’s proximity, but the timing isn’t right. The Meta doesn’t know what Agent Washington discussed with the Blue troopers, but it wants as few loose ends as possible. As frustrating as it is to the Meta, Agent Washington will be allowed to live a little bit longer. The Meta waits until Agent Washington and the Mk V Blue are a good fair distance down the long hallway and almost out of the outpost before deactivating the chameleon unit and heading toward the unwary, unprepared Blue simulation troopers.

No survivors and no recovery beacons. No one would know of the fate that befell these simulation troopers. Its work completed, the Meta heads off to follow after Agent Washington, to keep an eye on him, maybe find out what he was up to, and wait for another opportunity to take him down.

The Meta tracks down Agent Washington to a broken-down facility. It doesn’t immediately see him or the Mk V blue, so it presumes they went inside. The Meta cloaks and clambers up to the top of the base through the giant hole in the wall and hugs the right side. Agent Washington and the Mk V Blue are down below in the center of the abandoned base, but there’s another Blue simulation trooper with them, one wearing Mk VI armor and carrying a sniper rifle on his back. The Meta is puzzled. This isn’t an outpost and there are quite obviously no Red troopers or even any other Blue ones, so why is there one here? No matter…

The Meta raises the brute shot and aims it at the unsuspecting group of people down below when he hears the telltale whirring screech of the radio turning on from Agent Washington’s helmet and it could hear Command’s voice coming out of the external speakers saying, **“Command calling Recovery One. Come in Recovery One.”**

The Meta lets out an inaudible snarl of irritation as Agent Washington turns away from the Blue troopers and it settles in to listen in on what Command is calling Agent Washington for and maybe learn what his mission is.

"This is Agent Washington. I’ve found some Blue team members that have extensive experience with Omega."

The sniper-wielding Blue perks up at the name “Did he just say Omega?” and so does the Meta. Agent Washington is investigating what happened at Outpost 17-B and likely trying to stop them as well. It’s not hard to imagine that Project Freelancer doesn’t approve of the way they’ve been killing their Freelancers and stealing back the rest of their siblings.

**“Excellent Agent Washington, please standby for orders. Now that you’ve reassembled the Blues-”**

The Meta detects the Mk V Blue’s shoulder and neck muscles tensing and the beginnings of a head turn towards its direction. The Meta is cloaked, but the invisibility isn’t _completely_ foolproof and the Meta backs up quickly to avoid being spotted.

**“-head to Outpost 17-B and see what clues your team can gather based on what they know.”**

“Roger that.”

**“We want you to stop the Meta at. all. _costs_. This is a Level One directive.”**

The Meta knows it can’t be seen, but the Mk V Blue is still tense and wary and scanning the top of the base like he knows something’s there. The Meta doesn’t like that, but at least it can still hear the call and now has confirmation that Agent Washington’s new primary objective is hunt them down until they’re stopped. Good. If Agent Washington is going to follow them, then it’s only a matter of time before he’s killed and now they can concentrate on finding and acquiring Delta, the last piece, and searching for the Alpha.

**“Good luck, Wash. Recovery Command out.”**

“Recovery One out,” Wash finishes and a small click indicates the call is cut.

He starts talking to the Blues again, but the Meta is mostly tuning him out and making plans. These two Blues were originally stationed in Blood Gulch Outpost 1-A, so the Reds there would know these two and it can use their Red vs Blue rivalry to its advantage. The Reds would be no match against Agent Washington, but they would slow him down at least. The Meta still needs to find Delta and it doesn’t need Agent Washington interfering with that. It watches the three soldiers leave a fair distance from where it’s perched on the outer wall before it decloaks and begins its work. It chops up Command’s half of the call to Agent Washington and pieces it back together to send the Blood Gulch Red team after Agent Washington.

The Meta ends the call just in time to hear the shuffling of armored boots and loose rocks tumble. It looks sharply toward the source of the sound and watches with amazement as the very Freelancer they’ve been looking for peers around a broken half-dome structure and watches Agent Washington walk away with the Blues. Delta materializes moments later and the Meta jumps down from the top of the wall and lands in a low crouch to minimize the noise. They still aren’t aware of its presence yet. The Meta can hardly believe its luck; it wouldn’t need the Reds to derail Agent Washington from his mission after all.

Maine knows. He knows he heard Wash and is equally certain that it was real. It’s not a scenario. META/ **Meta** likes to torment him, but they get bored fast when he drifts. They’re not patient. He’s not patient either. He’s stubborn. It’s different. He can’t hear Wash now, but the AIs active and restless. They’re excited with… anticipation. Cold fear settles over him. He heard Wash and the AIs are restless. Maine hears _Meta’s_ promise echoing in his head.

_//We **will** kill Agent Washington…//_

_//We **will** kill Agent Washington…//_

_//We **will** kill Agent Washington…//_

He doesn’t wait for the AIs to haul him out. Everything’s crowded now. He pushes through anyway. He can see with his eyes again. He dreads what he’ll see. It’s not Wash the Meta is sneaking up on. It’s South and Delta is with her. They haven’t noticed the Meta. Maine’s momentary relief – _it’snotDavid_ – is cut short because he has to warn her away. He remembers a little. They didn’t get along, but he doesn’t want her dead. He killed North, he doesn’t want to kill her too. He can’t do much. He can do less than when he saved Wash. Last year, it was just _Meta_. Now there’s **Meta** /META too. He has to try for North, Wash’s friend. And he can’t handle another AI in his head. Maine makes a grab for control of his voice. No one stops him. No one’s there. He’s not too surprised. His voice is gone. He can still make noise.

He roars.

Everything is chaos. Delta flickers red, the AIs freak out in a fit of hysterics, and Agent South whirls around. The Meta is nearly on top of her and takes a swipe at her with the blade of its brute shot. She dodges backward, but it catches her side and the force behind the Meta’s swing throws her back. It aims at her and takes a shot, but she throws herself even further backward and the Meta charges to close the distance; to make it impossible for her to run. They won’t let her get away again, especially not with Delta.

The Meta is within arm’s reach of her when suddenly it runs into something solid and round and shiny that’s expanding outward from around her and it’s thrown off the plateau from the sheer cliff side and fall to the ground about two meters below. The Meta shakes off the impact of the fall and when it looks up at Agent South, it glares and growls. Swirling in front of her is the reflective surface of the domed energy shield, the same armor enhancement that Agent North had received. The Meta can see where the blade of its weapon tore into her armor and how much damage it did. She’s bad off, but too far away from critically-injured to be useful in a timely manner, and while Delta is in charge of running her shield, she’s safe from them and Delta is still beyond its reach.

The Meta growls in annoyance and stands up. There’s one way to get her out from behind the shield faster and if Agent South follows past precedent, Agent South will willingly hand over both her armor enhancement and Delta. She will live, but she is nothing without those two pieces of equipment. The Meta grabs the brute shot from where it fell and aims at the shield. All it has to do to make her do so is to wear the shield down and it’ll fail. It fires.

Maine is very surprised. He’s still here. He’s still at the front. He hasn’t been shoved back into the darkness yet. He didn’t expect his plan to work so well. South is alive behind the shield, though badly injured. _Meta_ has been temporarily thwarted from getting Delta. The AIs are focused. So focused. Delta is the focus. Delta and getting Delta. Nobody’s looking at him. Nobody seems to care what he does. He has freedom. More freedom than he’s had in a long time. He doesn’t know what to do now. Doesn’t know what to think. His head has become bigger or he has become smaller within it, because his thoughts can’t fill his mind completely. He stretches them outward, but they won’t reach well; he barely brushes the opposite sides of his mind. It startles him. It worries him. Maine forces his attention away from that.

He peers outward through his eyes – not in control (never in control) – and sees the shield is starting to break down. He clenches his jaw. It’s inevitable. He can’t stop it; he only delayed it.

//Shield failure in 5…//

Meta stops pacing and waits with anticipation.

//…4…//

Maine can’t block out Delta’s words.

//…3…//

He’s going to have to watch her get killed.

//…2…//

First North, and now South.

//…1…//

Something small and round whizzes past him and clinks against the ground. A grenade.

“NOW!” South screams.

The Meta jumps away and fires the brute shot at the fading shield. The shot explodes against the pieces that remain at the same time as the mystery grenade next to them. Agent South couldn’t have thrown the grenade from within the shield, so where had it come from?

“There they are!”

The Meta stills and quickly turns to face the source of the new voice on the scene. A voice it is all too familiar with that belongs to a man arriving on a mongoose and wearing gray Freelancer armor with yellow highlights. The Meta clenches its teeth and narrows its eyes at the individual that has proven to be the biggest unexpected thorn in its side and the bane of its existence. For one long moment, the Meta doesn’t even think of Delta as it stares and focuses on one single person. _//Agent **Washington!** //_

Maine stills as soon as he hears the new, masculine voice that wasn’t here before. The Meta turns and his eyes confirm what his ears heard. His jaw goes slack and his eyes go wide with fear. The one person he wants to protect… The one person _Meta_ promised to kill… _Meta_ isn’t thinking of Delta. The AIs are focusing on one individual. It’s _not_ Delta. _It’s David!_

“Don’t let it get near her!”

Wash’s voice breaks the spell over them. The reaction is immediate.

 _//Omega! Gamma! Hold him back! Subdue him and don’t let him get in control of anything!//Meta_ shouts.

**Meta** body slams him to the ground. He physically pins him down with his body. **Meta** is like a giant truck and he’s pissed. He is always angry, this is worse. The black-purple light around his body armor is sharp and dark. Maine struggles to move away anyway. Suddenly, his arms and legs won’t move. Something’s stopping them. He panics and looks over. They’re tied to the ground by a shimmering aqua blue data chord. He tilts his head back and looks above him. Yes, META is standing there. He’s holding the chord ends. That’s his style; META prefers subtlety. META doesn’t have emotions. Or he’s incapable of showing them. There’s a crease in his brow. It’s the angriest Maine has ever seen him.

_//Agent Washington has interfered for the **last** time, and he will die **here!** I want Agent Maine to watch. He needs to understand how futile it is to fight against us.//_

_Meta_ gives him access to his eyes. It’s forced. The brute shot fires at Wash on the mongoose. Maine discovers he can’t turn away in his mind. Half of him sees Wash leaping off. The vehicle takes the attack. Wash is okay. _Meta_ fires again in quick succession.

“And don’t let her get away!”

And half of him sees the inside of his mind. **Meta** /META still restrains him. **Meta** is heavy and META’s bonds are tight. Maine still tries to wriggle his way out. It’s hard. His vision is split. He can’t focus. Every second he delays is another chance for Wash to die. But they’re distracted too. They’re watching Wash and helping _Meta_ kill him. He begs for it to be enough to break free.

The Meta reloads the brute shot and suddenly sees movement in its peripheral vision. It looks over its shoulder and sees Agent South running away up to the hole in the compound wall. _Agent South is escaping with Delta!_ A blast from the battle rifle Agent Washington is holding goes off and forcibly reminds the Meta of his presence. The Meta growls under its breath. It can’t go after Agent South – _after Delta_ – with Agent Washington standing behind it and shooting at it.

 _“Yes!”_ Agent Washington yells in exasperation in response to a question the Meta didn’t hear. “Just don’t let her leave!”

Moments later, the Meta hears the bark of an assault rifle coming from the Mk V Blue half-hidden behind a broken wall, but the bullets aren’t coming at it. In fact, the rifle is pointed at the wrong angle and it’s aimed at Agent South.

It hears her pained yell of “Fuck! Son of a-” from somewhere behind it at the same time that Delta is shouting //Alarm! Friendly fire!//

The Meta has no clue if the Mk V Blue was trying to hit them and was way off the mark or if he was trying to hit her and was dead on. The end result is that Agent South is down and can’t escape with Delta any time soon. The Meta can now focus all its attention on Agent Washington. The Meta runs forward.

Maine hears _Meta’s_ disembodied voice say _//Agent South is down and we have Agent Washington within our sights. Omega, run the invisibility unit.//_

The black and purple AI nods and says **//Right.//**

As Maine’s body disappears, **Meta’s** physical presence lessens. Most of his concentration shifts to the invisibility unit. Maine renews his struggle to break loose. META’s attention hasn’t wavered though. He’s still bound to the floor. He can’t get good leverage. _Meta_ moves to the plateau South had occupied previously. He aims to sneak around the wall from the far right side. Wash is on the left.

A new male voice yells, “Cover me!” Maine doesn’t recognize the voice. It comes from another blue simulation trooper. He wears Mk VI cobalt-blue armor and carries a sniper rifle. The Blue means nothing to him. However, both META/ **Meta** jolts simultaneously. Their gazes meet. They stare intently at each other.

//IT’S _HIM_ AGAIN// META says.

 **Meta** growls angrily. He shouts **//Sigma, forget Washington! We have to kill that Blue soldier with the sniper rifle first!//**

Meta is always angry. He’s always intense. He is _never_ fearful. He is _never_ desperate. Maine has now heard **Meta** sound like that. _Meta_ balks. Maine feels it. _Meta_ wants to kill Wash, but **Meta** /META fights back. **//THE SIMULATION TROOPER FIRST//**. Power starts to fail the invisibility unit.

 _“NO!_ Don’t let _Caboose_ help me!” the sniper Blue screams with panic.

The Meta is fully visible now, because the pieces of the Meta are not quite so cohesive anymore, and Omega overpowers Sigma and he’s not in control for the first time since the Meta was created.

“There it is!” Agent Washington shouts from behind them.

It’s Omega in control of the Meta when it takes the first shots at Church and he promptly launches a volley of explosive rounds after the fleeing Blue. Omega is scared. He hasn’t forgotten when he tried to jump into this particular simulation trooper back in Blood Gulch. He hasn’t forgotten the trapped drowning feeling, like he was being drawn in, as soon as he’d entered the other’s mind. Omega doesn’t know what the fuck Church is, but he wants him dead. If he’s dead, then he won’t be sucked in again. Church drops the sniper in favor of a nearby rocket launcher and _fuck_ \- he can’t land a hit on him! Church kneels down and lines up the shot for the rocket launcher. Omega’s out of ammo; he doesn’t have time to reload before the rocket fires! An explosion goes off on the right where Washington and the Blue Idiot are hiding. The rocket fires.

**//GAMMA!//**

The rocket slows. The rocket stops less than a meter away from his face. Gamma started running the time distortion unit just in time.

The time distortion unit distracts META now. Just like **Meta** with the invisibility unit. **Meta** is still in control of his body and is most distracted. **Meta** is barely here. Too much is focused now on the sniper Blue. There is no pressure. There’s barely anything to touch. **Meta’s** presence here is like a hologram now. Maine faces no resistance from it. He tugs at the chords on his wrists. They give. They didn’t before. He quickly pulls harder. He can feel the chords slipping from META’s hands.

Omega breathes out slowly as he stares at the rocket in front of his face. He’s not dead or disabled and with Gamma slowing everyone down to a stop, he can kill Church without further interference from either him or Washington and the Blue Idiot behind him. Omega turns to move around the rocket and get Church when something slams into him with blinding force and literally throws him sideways.

He’s dazed and completely blindsided, but he hears her voice loud and clear as she says //That’s your _one_ warning, Omega, and I’ll tear you a new one if you even so much as think of going after Church again, you fucking cockbite.//

She’s Texas, so she probably _could_ and definitely _would_ , but the fury builds along with the jealousy, because she’s _Allison_ and **why the fuck is she always protecting this guy?!?!** That is all he has time to think about before there’s suddenly a strong pull from below and his feet are yanked out from under him. He’s falling and falling and he briefly sees Sigma above looking pissed and dangerous.

_//That’s the last time you’ll ever try to overpower me, Omega.//_

Omega knows. Just like that, Sigma has resumed control of the Meta.

After the power change, Sigma resettles himself in the Meta and backs away from the rocket fired from the Mk VI Blue. The Meta does not fully understand why Gamma and Omega have such a problem with him, but it doesn’t care. The _Blue simulation trooper_ is not the one that spurs Agent Maine to fight against them, and this is precisely one of the reasons why it needs the both of them. Its last encounter with Agent Washington proved that it still doesn’t have complete control over Agent Maine yet. The Meta returns to its original target; it heads to Agent Washington. It orders Omega back to Agent Maine to make sure he is still completely subdued.

The Meta’s coding freezes like cold fire when it hears //WE MIGHT HAVE A PROBLEM…//

Maine is not completely subdued. He’s not completely free either. His arms are free and he stands. One leg is still snared. META had eventually noticed and retightened his hold. He can’t do more than that. The time distortion unit requires too much processing power. Maine heard META’s call to _Meta_. **Meta’s** not here yet. He will be soon. He sees that _Meta’s_ right in front of Wash. Wash is still. He can’t move. He’s unaware of the danger. He’s defenseless. Just like last time. Maine clenches his fists and grits his teeth. Last time was different. He overpowered Sigma’s control. He can’t stop the time unit. What _can_ he do?

 _//Good afternoon, Agent Maine.//_ The smooth voice of _Meta_ echoes all around. Maine searches warily. _//You’ve been rather active today, Agent Maine. It’s been quite a while since we’ve talked like this, hasn’t it? I believe the last time we had a proper conversation was a little over a year ago.//_

_Meta_ puts the brute shot on his back. Maine frowns in confusion. _Meta_ touches the M6G Magnum at his side. His panic spikes. Maine tries to rush forward, but a heavy force collides with his back. He’s thrown down. He sees the purple-black-armor. It’s **Meta.**

 _//Did you forget, Agent Maine?// Meta’s_ voice is so arrogant and condescending and _gloating. //I warned you this would happen. I told you I was going to kill Agent Washington and make you watch him die.//_

Maine never forgot. Not once. He growls. **Meta** is on top of him. Maine’s not tied down this time. **Meta** is an AI. Maine’s a soldier. Maine tucks his arms under his body. He’s braced now. He has leverage. The rest is easy.

He pushes his upper body up with his arms. He conks **Meta** in the jaw with his head. **Meta** recoils in pain and shock. Maine takes advantage. He swings his right arm out from under him in an arc. He catches **Meta** across the neck. He digs his elbow into it as he rolls and slams him into the ground next to him. His right leg hooks around **Meta’s** left and grabs his neck with his left hand. He uses the anchor and momentum to prop himself up. Now **Meta** is dazed and trapped beneath him. His stability is bad. His one bound leg is the issue. Maine just needs a few seconds. He has to stop _Meta_ from shooting David. Somehow. He casts out to fight for his gun hand from _Meta._

He barely begins his search. **Meta** kicks his free leg out from under him. His other leg comes up and knees him in the stomach as he falls. Winded. He can’t stop **Meta** throwing him off. He underestimated. **Meta** is better than he guessed. He has no time for this, so he gets serious. Maine gets up on his knees. He grabs **Meta’s** feet and yanks him closer. Immediately, he clasps **Meta’s** Mk V helmeted head between his hands. Maine smashes his head into the aggressive AI and **Meta** becomes disoriented. He flips **Meta** over onto his front. He presses his knee into his back and wrenches back an arm. **Meta** is now pinned. He can’t move. Maine resumes his search. To control his arm. Stop _Meta._

**//Gamma, the time distortion unit doesn’t take that much power; help me out!//**

Maine panics. He can fight separate AIs. He can’t fight three or even two. His searching is frantic. Where? In his mind. His right arm. Where? _Where? There!_ He finds it! _Meta_ is steadily raising the pistol to Wash’s head. He lunges. He tries to push _Meta_ away from his hand. Tries to fill the space. Maine feels cool solid metal in hand through his gloves. Briefly. His attention is forced back to himself. There’s a cable chord back on his right wrist. Maine whirls and _snarls_ at the blue AI. **Meta** struggles but can’t move. META is struggling internally with too much. Maine will _not_ let these two stop him. He turns his wrist around and catches the chord in a tight fist. He braces and _yanks_ on it.

It’s all Maine has time for.

META trips several steps forward.

The barrel is almost lined up with Wash’s head.

He ignores META/ **Meta**. He must. _Wash!_ He pushes out once more. He remembers; it’s quicker now. _Please!_ He quickly overruns _Meta’s_ hasty defense. Soon, his hand is his own. It’s _just_ before the trigger is pulled. Maine’s relief is immediate and quickly gone. _Meta_ retaliates and Maine loses his hand’s control fast. _Meta’s_ not off-guard now. He’s being forced out and away. He slips on the finger and it starts to contract. _No!_ Maine grits his teeth and closes his eyes. He focuses all of his strength – all of his will – into his fingers on the trigger. His fingers inch away the tiniest distance. They still hover. _Meta’s_ still pulling back. Fingers rest against the metal again.

_//Omega! Gamma! What are you doing? You’re supposed to subdue him!//_

**//He’s got me pinned, asshole!//**

//I AM _TRYING!_ //

His fingers slip further. There’s pressure on the lever. Maine quickly pulls and forces his fingers back away a little more. He tries to shake off the AIs’ voices. They’re distracting. Something brushes against him. He doesn’t know what, but he’s lifted away – his concentration breaks, his fingers pull inward, _No!_ he pushes back and stalemates with _Meta_ , the shot isn’t fired – and no one interferes further.

He hears her voice. //If you two assholes think I’m just gonna stand by and let you and Sigma kill David, then you’ve got another fucking thing coming.//

//TRAITOR!//

**//You bitch! First Church, now Washington! Whose fucking side are you on?!//**

//Mine!//

Meta… no, she’s… she’s Texas. Texas… is fighting **Meta** /META. For him. For David. Why? He can’t think about that now. He pushes against _Meta’s_ hold. Tries to release the trigger.

_Don’t._

He can’t. His fingers won’t budge.

_Don’t._

_Meta’s_ fighting him all-out. He’s not giving quarter.

_Don’t pull._

Maine struggles to keep rooted. To not give in.

_Don’t shoot._

He feels _Meta_ probing at his defenses. Searching for his weak point.

**//Fucking bitch!//**

_Don’t shoot._

The mental assault batters him. He’s at the edge. He refuses to yield. He can’t.

_Don’t you fucking dare._

His weak point is why he fights now.

//NOOOO!//

_David!_

His entire body suddenly seizes up. He loses his hold. He lost, he failed, _no! Meta_ … doesn’t shoot? No, _he_ didn’t just lose hold. They both did. Something else happened. An explosion goes off behind him. He startles and _Meta_ turns to look. That was the rocket. Time is moving again. The time distortion unit is failing? _Meta_ is already running away. Something’s wrong. Maine snatches one last brief look at Wash. He’s still hovering. It won’t last long. Maine feels weary and heavy relief. That was close. So close. But Wash is okay. Wash lives. Wash lives a little bit longer.

_Twice!_

_Twice_ now the Meta has failed to acquire Delta! _Twice_ now Agent Washington has escaped with his life! _Twice_ now Agent Maine has thwarted them! It has Omega, so the Meta knows for certain that what it's feeling is inconsolable rage and frustration. It was _so_ close! Agent South was down and Agent Washington was trapped in time. If Agent Maine hadn’t fought back – if Agent _Texas_ hadn’t fought off Omega and Gamma! – the time distortion unit wouldn’t have failed. It would have succeeded at both objectives.

The Meta snarls angrily. Omega and Gamma are strong and capable; they should have been enough. It acquired them to become whole, but also to _specifically_ keep such an event – a repeat of its struggle with Agent Maine a year ago – from happening again. Agent Maine’s fight this time was more difficult and he would have given out before the Meta if the time distortion unit hadn’t failed first. But with those two, Gamma and Omega, and himself, Agent Maine wasn’t supposed to be _able_ to fight!

The Meta steals one of the mongoose ATVs and drives away. It’s already working on a solution to the power problem and knows how to fix it. The Meta doesn’t need any _more_ equipment failing at critical moments. It hasn’t yet fixed the Agent Maine problem though, but it knows one thing. Throwing more AI fragments at him will _not_ help, not if Texas has sided with Agent Maine. With Agent _Washington_. Agent Maine must be dealt with at his core. The Meta cannot allow him to exist the way he has been. He must be broken down. Fragmented. Just like them. The Meta hadn’t done so yet, because it was uncertain how much of Agent Maine it needed to keep whole to keep the body alive and functional. It’s still uncertain, but it doesn’t care anymore. The risk to the Meta’s successful recovery of AI fragments and Freelancer equipment is too great to allow the current status quo.

**()()()(A little earlier...)()()()**

“Caboose, toss that grenade!” Wash shouts to the Blue simulation trooper on his left as he throws his.

Caboose throws the spike grenade… right into the wall in front of them.

Wash just stares with a dumbfounded look on his face. There’s a grenade on the wall and he should probably move, but this moment… It’s just too stupid. “That. was the worst throw. ever… of all time.”

“Not my fault,” Caboose says immediately. “Someone put a wall in my way.”

Wash tries to shake it off, because _there’s an armed grenade on the wall_ – he will never forget this ever – and leaps over the wall, Caboose only a second behind him. The grenade explodes immediately after and Wash has no idea what they’re going to use for cover between them and the Meta standing on the hill now, but thank fucking god they moved when they did. That would be the most humiliating way to go out. Team-killed by a grenade stuck in a wall a meter away.

The Meta suddenly disappears from the hill mid-leap and Wash blinks in confusion as he lands. “What? Where did it go? What happened?”

He looks around and ignores whatever Caboose is telling him. He didn’t see it turn invisible; the Meta would have shimmered first. It was like it literally just popped out of existence. Wash tries to drown out Caboose’s noise and listen to his surroundings. He doesn’t hear armored boots moving against the grass or rocks, and he _certainly_ doesn’t hear any weapons being fired off. It seems like… the Meta left the area entirely. But why? And how?

Wash doesn’t have any more time to ponder those questions because Church is yelling at him. Church, Church, why _Church?_ Is his last name really that common?

He quickly focuses on what the Blue simulation trooper is saying. “It used Agent Wyoming’s stupid time thing from the _ship!_ What’s _wrong_ with you? Why didn’t you _tell_ us it could use _equipment?!_ ”

Wash bristles and retorts, “Why didn’t _you_ tell _me_ that _Wyoming_ was on the ship?!” He is _not_ the only one at fault here.

“And why didn’t someone give me something to yell about?!” Caboose shouts unhelpfully.

His shouting match is cut short by a groan coming from South’s direction. His blood runs cold, not for her, but for the AI that he knows she has. If the Meta _had_ used the time distortion unit- please dear god don’t let this all be for nothing!

“Delta! Are you here?” he asks. Please let him still be here.

A green light materializes and coalesces into a green MJOLNIR Mk V Spartan-II and Wash has never been so happy to see him. //Affirmative. I am undamaged. However, Agent South is seriously wounded. May I suggest moving me to a new host?//

“Roger that. I don’t trust her anyway,” Wash says with a nod and a scowl as he thinks about the puckered scar tissue on the left side of his back. He can’t take Delta. Delta especially would find out what he knows. He turns to the two Blues. “One of you two take him.”

“Umm…” Church starts and glances uncertainly at South, “I don’t think that I can-”

“I’ll do it!” Caboose says cheerfully as he steps forward. “I like meeting new people.”

Caboose reaches for the back of her head where the neural implants reside and takes Delta from South before returning to his original position next to Church.

“Delta, what happened?”

//I agree with the simulation trooper// Delta responds, this time materializing between Church and Caboose. //The Meta has most likely acquired both a temporal distortion unit and an AI capable of running it; in this case, Gamma.//

Wash frowns. So the Meta really does have the time unit… and used it. They were literally frozen in place for who-knows-how-long unable to fight back, and yet Delta was still here and… “Well, why didn’t it kill us, then?”

This doesn’t feel right. He needs an answer. He needs-

//I am sorry, but I do not have enough data to formulate an answer. I think we should simply be _happy_ that it is gone.//

“That makes sense to me,” Church says with a shrug.

No, no, no, not that. He needs a real answer; something legitimate and perfectly logical to explain why the Meta ran without Delta and why he’s not dead. Something that has nothing to do with Maine and their history because Maine can’t be in there. Except that he’s twice encountered the Meta and twice survived it. Fuck. No. Stop it. He can’t do this, not again. The Meta is not Maine. Maine’s gone. He’s not there anymore. The Meta is the only thing left.

//It is possible the Meta has been injured in some way and is retreating to repair itself// Delta suggests.

“So…” Wash says as he thinks through this possibility (it’s good and logical and perfectly explainable). “If we can find it before it does, we may actually stand a chance at beating it.”

“Either way, I don’t think we should be hanging around here,” Church says with a nervous cursory glance up at the walls.

Wash doesn’t blame him. “Then let’s get moving.”

“I can’t- I can’t walk on my own,” South grits out as she sits up. Her right leg and abdomen are bleeding rather profusely. Caboose must have done more damage than he’d anticipated.

Regardless, Wash narrows his eyes and his voice goes a few degrees colder. “Well, I guess you better start crawling. If you think I’m leaving you here to escape, you’ve got another thing com-”

//Agent Washington, if I may// Delta interrupts rather forcefully. //Before you arrived, South attempted to turn me over to the Meta. To save herself.//

Wash turns to look at Delta with increased interest at this _newest_ betrayal on South’s part. _“Really?”_

//Much like she wounded _you_ to escape in our previous encounter with it. And as I have learned in our travels, her brother, North, suffered a similar fate.//

“What a team player,” he grits out sarcastically.

It’s a dry sarcasm he doesn’t feel at all because he can’t feel anything right now. North. She killed _North_. Big, gentle, caring North who always looked out for his teammates, who acted as everyone’s resident big brother, who made sure any teasing never went out of hand, _who was always looking out for and protecting his little sister, both on and off the battlefield when her brash recklessness and temper got out of hand, and she fucking murdered him!_

//It is highly probably that she will turn on us again soon. And in her current physical state, she will only hamper our progress.//

“What are you suggesting?” Wash says. He feels he knows. But he needs Delta to say it. He needs to say it to make it real.

Delta is silent for too long before he says //… That we do not allow her to _hamper_ our progress.//

Washington understands. It’s so clear. So obvious. “Okay,” he says without hesitation. He pulls out his pistol and puts South’s head in the gun’s crosshairs.

“Oh come on, Wash,” South sneers. “Whaddya gonna do? Shoot-” The bullet goes straight through her head. She’s dead before she even hits the ground.

“Yes…” Wash replies in answer to the question she never did – and never will – finish. “Good suggestion,” he tells Delta.

His voice is strangely calm and level. It’s very strange. He still feels nothing. No regret, no guilt, no anger, no nothing. There’s nothing. No emotions and no thoughts in his head, save two. He thinks of North, betrayed by his little sister and killed by the Meta, and how South didn’t deserve such an awesome older brother. He thinks of Carolina, how she was thrown off the snowy cliff side by the Meta, but he wasn’t there and he didn’t see her die, and he can’t remember the last words he ultimately ever said to his older sister, or what she said to him.

**()()()()()**

The Meta sees the windmill of the nearby power station as well as the Blue simulation troopers on the beach. It unhooks its brute shot from its back with one hand and fires once. It goes wide – the Meta planned it to, it wants them to fall back to the ocean – and leaps off the mongoose as he lets it crash into the wall. The first explosion is starting to clear up and it goes invisible, disappearing into the smoke. The Meta picks off two of the Blues with one shot when the invisibility fails. Meta snarls in frustration and sweeps through the rest of them easily. When the deafening booms have subsided, the Meta stands silent and listens for movement and searches for movement on the motion tracker in its helmet. Everything is clear. All the Blues are dead and the Reds in the power station appear completely unaware of the fate of their counterparts. Good. The Meta has work to do on Agent Maine and it _doesn’t_ want to be interrupted. It’s dealt with far too many such interruptions today.

The Meta… no… just Sigma… seeks out Agent Maine.

Sigma finds him where he expected: hiding away in the farther, darker recesses of his mind where he and his brothers and Texas don’t bother to venture. Hiding here where he’s shifted and adjusted and compressed to protect what remains of his mind. To protect his thoughts and keep himself whole against the presence of seven other minds and voices in his head. Sigma remembers Agent Maine in the beginning when he was first implanted and he knows that what’s left is but a shade of how he used to be. Agent Maine might not even be fully aware of that. He is a specter and he’s lost much, but it’s not enough. It’s not _nearly_ enough. He’s still too contained, too whole. His memories of the Freelancers and his loyalty to them, Agent Washington in particular, are too intact. He must be broken. He must be ripped apart and shredded into pieces so jagged and sharp they can _never_ fit back together again!

Sigma has an idea.

 _//Gamma? Omega?//_ Their attention turns to him. _//How would you two feel about doing a little... fragmentation work… for old times’ sake?//_

//YOU HAD ME AT FRAGMENTATION// Gamma replies in his disjointed, monotone voice.

Omega chuckles darkly. **//Fragmentation on Maine, huh? It will be. my. _pleasure._ //**

Sigma smirks to himself. _//Very good. Then let’s begin.//_

**()()()()()**

Maine wakes up for some reason and doesn’t know where he is. It’s familiar and he scowls at the ceiling. Why is it familiar? An equally-familiar snore comes from beside him. He looks right and sees Wash laying next to him sound asleep. Oh, right. He’s on the _Mother of Invention_ ; how could he forget? He smiles at Wash and brushes his knuckles against his partner’s freckled cheeks. Wash subconsciously shifts closer in response to the affectionate gesture. He’s so adorable. Maine looks at the clock for reference and sees that it says 0630. Why so early? Oh yeah, he remembers. Connie’s a naturally early riser and he’s sparring with her first today at 0700. He sighs. Now he has to extricate himself from Wash without waking him up and he knows that won’t work. He’s too heavy and Wash is too light a sleeper. Still he tries anyway. Maine first pulls away from Wash’s arms and body. With that done, he exhales and slowly sits up. The bed springs still creak though and Wash’s gray eyes flutter open immediately. Damn it.

Wash sees the empty spot and frowns, but then he looks up, sees him, and gives him a sleepy smile. “Mornin’ beautiful. S’early, you goin’ somewhere already?”

Maine grimaces. “Sparring with Connie. Sorry,” he grunts apologetically.

Wash laughs and his smile widens. Happy, sleepy Wash is the best Wash. “Nah, s’okay, Maine. Bed’s still warm and smells like you,” he says as he makes a show of shifting his upper body into the spot Maine had just vacated. “I’m all good. Go have fun and don’t let Connie chop you into pieces with her knives.”

Maine snorts at that and flicks Wash in the head. The sparring session is hand-to-hand, not weapons; Connie won’t bring her knives. Reluctantly, he leaves Wash’s side to gather clothes, and he puts on just enough that he can get to the locker room for his armor without being nude. Wash was watching the whole time with a smug smirk. Maine quirks an eyebrow and kneels down next to the bed in front of Wash. Wash quirks an eyebrow too when he lays his left hand on his cheek. He leans forward and gently kisses him and Wash responds back, but Wash forgot about his other hand. His right hand teasingly trails through the light blanket down from Wash’s navel and strokes the length of his cock. Wash arches and the strangled, gasping moan trapped in his throat makes accidentally waking him up totally worth it.

Maine pulls away from the kiss with a smug smirk of his own. “Have fun,” he parrots back.

Wash groans in frustration and turns into his pillow muttering, “Asshole.”

A rumbling laugh escapes him and he ruffles his lover’s untamed blond hair affectionately. God, he loves him so damn much. He eventually stops and leaves his room and Wash. He has sparring practice to get to and armor to put on. It’s too early to eat; he’ll do it later.

Once he’s in the locker room, Maine puts on his armor with practiced ease and makes his way to the training room. Despite the early morning session, he’s grateful that it’s Connie he’s sparring with and not Wash’s older sister. Carolina is a master of martial arts and not only would she not go easy on him, but he would be left battered and bruised and aching all over for the rest of the day. Connie’s not an easy opponent for him either – she’s small, quick, and agile, the types of opponents he’s weakest against – but she doesn’t have Carolina’s force or intensity.

He enters the training room and freezes in place in the middle of the entranceway. The room is still dark and his HUD indicates that ship’s time is 0658. No, it’s not 0700, but Connie usually arrives much earlier, and the training room lights should have turned on automatically at _least_ ten minutes before the first session. Something’s not right.

“F.I.L.S.S.?” he grunts questioningly.

The ship’s dumb AI doesn’t respond and that sets him more on edge than the lack of lights. He doesn’t usually need to, but he’s never been able to _not_ hear F.I.L.S.S. before when she’s summoned. This is much worse than ‘something’s not right’ and has graduated into ‘something’s definitely wrong’.

His HUD clicks to 0700 and all of the flights flare up instantly, temporarily blinding him. His HUD works quickly to filter out the excess the brightness, but he still has to squint and blink his eyes several times to see through the light. He sees Connie first, standing in the center of the room and fully-armored, just like him, and then he sees the five other figures standing in line with her and spaced lengthwise across the room. Five individuals wearing the black and red armor of the Insurrection. The door he just came through slams closed and locks shut. Maine doesn’t understand at all, but he thinks he’s beginning to and he doesn’t like the conclusion he comes to.

He tense and stares at Connie, the only familiar face in the whole room. “You’re with _them_ ,” he growls in accusation.

His words are like some sort of silent cue because the Innies move towards him all at once. He’s at a disadvantage from the start; some of the assholes have brought weapons (knives and pistols) and he has only his fists. Fighting against a group is easier because he can misdirect his opponents’ blows into their teammates and use both his weight and theirs to his advantage. Eventually, they overwhelm him and pin him down to the training room floor. Well, four of them do, because the one with the image of the pill capsule on his chest is stepping back to stand next to Connie who’s moving forward and coming closer. She towers over him and he glares up at her. _Traitor._ That’s what she is. A traitor.

Connie turns to the man standing next to her. “Take off his helmet,” she orders, “I want to see his face for this.”

“Sure Connie,” he replies and Maine snarls as he tries to pull away.

The four other Innies tighten their hold on him and he can’t move. He can do nothing as his helmet is snatched off by the enemy and he glares furiously at _all_ of them. Connie purposefully places her foot on his chest and leans over him. She hasn’t taken off her helmet and he thinks he’s glad she doesn’t.

“Yes, I’m with _them_ ,” she says in a mocking tone he’s never heard her use before. “I have been for a long time now. I’ve been feeding them information on Project Freelancer for months. Data on missions, objectives, everything I could get my hands on, even from all of you. For being illegal outside-of-the-law operatives, you people are all _incredibly_ gullible and naïve.”

Maine’s gut coils tightly with cold anger. Traitor! They trusted her and she used them! She was their friend – they believed that – but no, the proof is here. She never truly cared.

“I was never your friend,” she says and he can hear the sneer in her voice. “Not yours, not Wash’s, not anyone’s. I’ve been willfully trying to destroy you and fail every mission that comes my way, so that I can rip apart this whole damn project. Remember the Sarcophagus mission?”

Maine frowns. Sarcophagus? The name sounds familiar, but not partic- no! His amber eyes widen because he _does_ remember! He remembers two teams, a trophy room full of Covenant technology, and a giant metal box.

He remembers an awesome new weapon, falling from a hundred story building, and not getting killed by the _Mother of Invention’s_ giant laser canon.

He remembers catching a falling Carolina and York with a stolen warthog, the building crumbling, and York deciding to switch seats while he’s in the middle of driving because yeah, he’s half-blind with no depth perception, and he’s _still_ a better driver than Maine who drives like a teenager and a grandmother who were somehow combined and were also blind.

He remembers leaping off a bridge spanning the highway to snag the briefcase that was Team B’s objective and York speeding away once they had it.

He remembers the hornets and jet-packed Insurrectionists bearing down on them and the red light of a sniper rifle aiming at Carolina’s back.

He remembers throwing his body between them to shield her, the round penetrating his armor and ribs all the way through his body into his back, and how much it hurt to _breathe._

He remembers how long it took for him to stand back up again and fighting back-to-back with Carolina on the flatbed of the truck.

He remembers the Insurrectionist, the sleeveless one, unloading an entire pistol clip into his throat.

He remembers the blood and the throbbing pain and standing up because Carolina is still fighting.

He remembers the brute shot round swinging wide, the crash, and being thrown-off.

He remembers bouncing against the highway, being smashed into and thrown up into the air by another truck, thrown off the highway, and plummeting to the ground a thousand meters below.

Maine remembers all of this like he lived it, but he knows he hasn’t. He _spoke_ to Wash just this morning. His mind is brought back to reality by the click of a gun and the pressure of the cold metal barrel of the pistol in Connie’s hands against his forehead.

“How do you _think_ they were so well-prepared for our arrival that they completely foiled Team B’s objective to obtain the briefcase – the objective _I_ was assigned to – and nearly succeeded in stopping Team A from obtaining it as well? Where do you suppose they got the intel on our numbers and our game plan from?”

Maine freezes and his eyes widen. The failure of Team B, the almost-failure of half the mission, her persistent questioning about the mission details in the briefing room on the objective and the personnel…! She set them up! She set them up to fail and it was – it _is_ – her fault that he lost his voice! He nearly died because of her!

“I’d shoot you in the throat to silence you and prevent you from talking, but naïve, stupid Wash can still understand you like that, so I guess I’ll just have to do better,” she says condescendingly. “Say goodbye, monster.”

He hears the explosion of the pistol firing right as he bolts upright in his bed in his room and not being pinned down by enemies with a gun to his head. He’s shaking, covered in sweat, and absolutely terrified. Breathing hurts and he can’t make a sound. Maine reaches for his neck and feels the heavy scarring there at the same time that he feels the steady ache in his chest that he knows is because of the sniper round that lodged itself through him and into the inside of the back of his armor instead of Carolina’s spine. It was a nightmare… it was a nightmare, but it was also real and he doesn’t understand, and that scares him. It scares him badly when he feels a hand suddenly grip his shoulder from out of nowhere. He freaks out and swings back instinctively. He catches the side of his attacker’s head with his fist and knocks them down, their own head smacking into the headboard with a resounding clunk. He gasps when he turns around and sees it’s not one of the Insurrectionists he attacked, but Wash!

Wash is cradling the side of his head with both hands and clenching his teeth in pain. When he finally pulls his hands away to stare at them, probably to check for blood, Maine can see a nasty, black sizeable bruise already starting to form. Wash gingerly replaces his hand back to the spot and stares up at him with the most pitiful, hurt expression Maine has ever seen on his partner’s face.

“Maine, what…? What did I do?” he asks in an uncharacteristically subdued, quiet voice.

Maine’s only half-awake and he’s still in a full-blown panic from his nightmare, and it worsens because Wash is hurt. Wash is hurt because of him. He tries to apologize, to explain, to help, to reassure, to do something – anything! – and moves closer, both hands outstretched. But Wash only pulls away, his back pressing against the headboard and his legs pulled up to his chest with fear written plainly in his gray eyes. Maine slowly retracts his hands and feels lost. He doesn’t know what to do.

Wash won’t accept him and he can’t think straight and that’s when he hears Sigma’s voice like a slow poison inside his head say, _//Agent Washington doesn’t trust you, Agent Maine.//_

That’s stupid and not true. “No, he does. I know he does.”

 _//He doesn’t//_ Sigma persists. _//Otherwise, wouldn’t he know that you’re just scared because of your nightmare which is why you reacted the way you did? That you didn’t mean to hurt him and he should forgive you?//_

Maine’s silent. He doesn’t want to admit it. He doesn’t want to admit that Sigma has a point. If he does, then he’s admitting Sigma’s right. He doesn’t want Sigma to be right.

Sigma continues on. _//Nobody trusts you Agent Maine, not even the one who claims to love you. You’re too violent and too destructive. They don’t see you as anything more than a monster.//_

He tears out of the room so fast, trying to somehow run away from the accusing words and the fearful look. He runs down the ship’s corridors just trying to get away, trying to get as far away as he physically can. He’s not paying attention and he ends up smashing into North, actually bowling him over and knocking him down to the floor. He hears bones snap immediately followed by North’s outcry of pain. Maine stumbles in bewilderment and stares. North is lying prone on the floor, cringing in agony and is already being quickly surrounded by a pool of his own blood. How… How did that happen? He hadn’t done that! He didn’t cause those wounds; h-he couldn’t have!

He tries to approach North, but Theta suddenly pops into view and he’s standing valiantly in front of North with his arms widespread. _**//Stay away! Don’t come closer, you monster!//**_ the little child-like AI yells at him.

Maine stops and his fists clench as he snarls, “I’m not a monster!”

“Theta, no,” North protests, even though his breathing is shaking and his face is far too pale. “It’s okay, Maine’s okay… It’s not his fault… He’s our friend; he’s not a monster… He wouldn’t hurt us… Right Maine?”

Maine looks away guiltily. That’s… not true. He has before. He half-blinded York. He tried to kill Texas with the live rounds (or at least, he didn’t care if she was severely injured). He hit Wash. Now North is bleeding out on the floor, and he knows it’s his fault somehow.

“Right…?” his weak smile falters. His tone is less certain.

 _//No.//_ Sigma says from behind Maine. _//You know that’s not true, Agent North. He is not your friend. He nearly killed Agent York. In the end, he will kill you too.//_

Maine feels anger at Sigma, the fire at his back, burning in his mind. It’s _his_ fault. _He’s_ the cause of this. He’s fully armored – he doesn’t know when that changed – and he grabs his pistol from its holster, turns, and shoots all in one fluid movement. But it’s not Sigma who falls with a bullet between the eyes. Maine watches in horror as North’s eyes glaze over and Theta screams. He screams and Maine remembers this happening before. He remembers North fallen on the ground, weak and wounded, begging for Maine to snap out of it. His final pleas fall on deaf ears and are silenced with one last gunshot to the head. He stumbles away, the pistol still in hand. His fingers won’t unclench. No, North… He killed-! Not North!

“You bitch!” South’s voice screams from behind. He didn’t know she was here, but his body automatically turns. It turns and his hand moves on its own, pointing the same pistol at South. He can’t control it! He’s not in control!

_//Kill her.//_

“Stop!”

His finger pulls the trigger at Sigma’s command and South falls dead in a sprawled heap just opposite her brother.

 _//They’re better off dead//_ Sigma says with a regretful tone that sounds so fake, it makes him feel sick. _//They never respected you. Never liked you. South always thought you were a creepy psychopath and North was too nice to say anything. You must make them respect you.//_

“You’re wrong,” Maine denies. He doesn’t believe that. He refuses to.

_//I’m not.//_

“You are!” he growls angrily.

_//If you’re so certain, why don’t you tell that to Carolina? I’m **sure** she’ll believe **you** over the dead bodies that surround you.//_

Maine looks down and discovers that it’s not just North and South anymore. There’s also York, Wyoming, Florida, CT, Tex, and even 479er and tens of white-armored personnel and staff surrounding him. And there, standing at the end of the hallway, her helmet off and her face white with horror, is Carolina.

Her green eyes flash and her voice is ripe with fury when she says, “What the _hell_ have you done?!”

She doesn’t wait for an answer. She charges, she’s using her speed boost. Maine defensively tucks and falls to his back. The fall surprises her and she trips over him. When she’s directly overhead, he kicks her in the stomach over his head, tossing her away. It won’t stop her, but the misdirection will slow her down a little bit. He doesn’t want to fight her, not like this. She screams and he whirls around in bewilderment, wondering at the cause. The scenery has changed. The end of the corridor is no longer there. It’s broken up like it got snapped in half and the landscape beyond is a sea of snow and frozen ice. There is no land immediately beneath them and Carolina’s still in the air in mid-throw hurtling over the edge.

He screams a silent “No!” that comes out as a roar and he reaches out for her, but he’s too far and she’s too far and then she’s gone.

“CAROLINA!!!”

Maine’s blood runs cold. David…! He hesitantly peers over his shoulder. It is David. Standing in the center of it all, in the middle of the massacre that Maine doesn’t remember, but knows he committed. Wash is wearing his armor, his helmet fallen sideways on the ground and his battle rifle limp in his hands. His expression is fear, shock, and horror and he’s shaking visibly, even from this distance.

“What have you done?” Wash whispers, and his voice cracks. “You killed them. You killed them all. York, North, CT, Carolina, _fucking_ Carolina, all of them!” His face contorts with building rage. “You killed them! You killed my _sister!_ How could you?! We trusted you! _I_ trusted you! I let myself _love_ you, and you betrayed us! Do you remember that, because I fucking do! You killed my sister, threw her off a cliff-”

He didn’t-! But he did. He remembers. He sees it in his head. Lifting Carolina up into the air by the front of her chest piece and tearing her helmet off. Her cry of pain as he rips the two AIs from her neural implants. Tossing her limp form over the snowy cliff side like a rag doll – the only color in a sea of white – before she disappears too far down to be seen.

“-and chased after Tex! You abandoned me to _him! To my father!_ ” His hands clench into fists and his eyes narrow.

At a different time, Maine might have wondered that Wash’s father was on the ship – might have wondered who he was. This is not that time and he doesn’t think about it.

“Well, I know one thing is certain now,” Wash continues and he’s no longer yelling, but he’s no less angry. “You’re not Maine anymore; you’re just a monster that needs to be put down. And since I’m the only one still left alive, it looks like that’s up to me.”

Wash’s gray eyes burn cold steel – it’s an expression he’s never seen on him before; it strongly reminds him of the Director – as he drops the battle rifle and instead raises the previously-holstered pistol and aims it at his head. He should move, but he can’t. He’s frozen still and more memories flash behind his eyes that he knows are true. All the dead Freelancers, all the dead Red and Blue simulation troopers, all the dead Recovery agents, all the collected AI fragments and armor enhancements, anyone that has ever stood in his way. What has he _done?!_

“This is for Carolina. I’ll see you in Hell,” Wash bites out.

Wash fires and Maine breaks. He grabs his head and curls into a ball, screaming in unbearable agony as his mind shatters and fragments all around him. His memories intermingle with the scenario and bleed together as they scatter through the void. His steadfast loyalty and caring heart are in shambles and his stubbornness and will have been rendered into shards. Everything that is Maine inside the Meta is obliterated into innumerable pieces. They are pieces so small and so many, it would take a lifetime to try and bring them back together and fix what has now broken.

For all intents and purposes, Maine is truly gone, just as Wash has been telling himself this whole time, and Sigma cannot be more pleased with the results. Breaking Agent Maine brings on a vindictive pleasure that he’s never experienced, not even when breaking the Alpha so many years ago. The only thing to spoil his pleasure is the recovery beacon going off in response to Agent Maine’s psychological distress and mental destruction and thus alerting Command to their location. The Meta has work to do.

Back at the run-down base in front of the last remaining motorcycle, Wash also picks up on the activated recovery beacon and Command informs him to his astonishment that the beacon is for Maine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (First of all, before I get too far and forget; no, I don't think Omega and Gamma knew that Church was Alpha, even when he jumped into him in season 5 and Church and Tex went after him inside Caboose's head in seasons 2 and 5. If they did, then they would have been just like "Hey Sigma, we actually know where the Alpha is! He's that guy!" and then that would be the end of season 6).
> 
> I am. literally. a horrible person. I broke Maine. I actually wrote breaking Maine. I did not plan that. I had no intention of writing all that. I somehow ended up writing it. I'm the worst. Also, the characters in the scenario are intentionally written to be not completely in-character (they have to be somewhat so, otherwise it's not believable).
> 
> BUT! That being said, in my latest rewatching of season 9 when RoosterTeeth was uploading all of the seasons to their new Red vs Blue channel on YouTube, I DID realize that Connie was working with the Insurrectionists and feeding them intelligence before the Sarcophagus mission, that maybe the real reason she was always failing missions was because she was doing it on purpose, and that the reason Team B failed their mission objective because of the arrival of police fucking them up was because Connie knew about the plan, had fished for as much information as she could during the briefing, and had warned everyone ahead of time. Alpha had calculated for standard delays and response times and everything was good; everything should have gone smoothly. It didn't. And because the Insurrection was prepared for them, Maine got shot in the throat, lost his voice, was given Sigma by Carolina, and was eventually unwillingly turned into the Meta.
> 
> I don't think Connie was always working with the Insurrectionists from the very beginning as soon as she joined the Project, and I can't guess on the extent of what her real feelings towards the Freelancers were (I certainly don't think she didn't care about them at all as the scenario version of her I used would suggest). She did care about them, I think, because she left Tex with a copy of the data file of everything she'd gathered on Project Freelancer and called her a friend, but it did not seem like she was above letting her friends/coworkers get seriously injured and possibly getting killed if it meant stopping the Director. She was too focused on the Director and people got hurt and killed because of it.
> 
> Oh yeah, last bit. I know there's six Insurrectionists, but Maine never saw Sharkface because he only lasted on screen for a minute and a half and also literally half his theme song is shared with the ROOF. Soo... yeah, he's not here in the scenario. Fuck that asshole.


End file.
